Wednesday, 1 May 2013

1985: EAGLE AND TIGER MERGE (IPC)

"I am programmed to please you"

Here's a death notice from the final March 1984 issue of EAGLE: the demise of IPC mainstay TIGER, launched in 1954.

The merger was unusual as, unlike SCREAM's hasty death, it really did feel like a coming together of equals with the two titles sharing a joint masthead and a conspicuous effort to make the merger feel like a relaunch.

I must admit that I'd never been a fan of TIGER and the only issue I'd ever bought was the one with the free ACTION FORCE figure (see posts past) and I don't remember giving the comic itself anything more than a cursory look before discarding it. That meant the sports-based refugees (Death Wish, Billy's Boots, Golden Boy and Star Rider) were all entirely unknown to me. And, to be honest, only Billy's Boots and Death Wish (actually a hardened survivor from SPEED) seemed remotely like they were worth reading. The BMX riding alien Star Rider seemed particularly poor in a we-need-to-do-E.T type way. If these were the best of Tiger's final line-up then it must have been in dire straits indeed.

The relaunch also introduced the IPC mainstay of the fictional editor to the Eagle for the first time. Max, of Scream and The Thirteenth Floor fame, suddenly started moonlighting at King's Reach Tower. This really helped to cement the Eagle's editorial positioning as the comic for kids interested in computers and video games. A canny move as both were swiftly eroding comic sales across the board.

One tradition that continued for a while was the various strips retaining a creator credit 'box' that retained the design of their previous home.

The merger didn't extend to the various Eagle spin-offs with no sign of the Tiger masthead on specials and annuals.

SLOW ROBOT

Welcome to STARLOGGED!
It's a repository, and celebration, of Geek Media (mostly print) from the 'Star Age': that pre-millennial period between, roughly, 1972 (the opening of Marvel UK) and 1999 (the release of The Phantom Menace... and the end of innocence). But, of course, we'll bend the rules when we want to.
I only reproduce long out-of-print items for historical reference. I don't include anything that's currently in-print, is likely to be reprinted or otherwise commercially exploited by the copyright holder.
Comments and contributions are most welcome.